$85,043

1,370

We've been singing together for 25 years. And we’ve been talking about making a record together for just as long. Enough already! It’s time to make that record.

Our voices have always understood each other. It feels like they have a mind of their own. The one instinctively finds its resolution in the other. The simple pleasure of blending these two voices has been a constant for each of us through all the twists and turns of our respective careers.

We are also songwriters - each with many solo albums of original songs. But before either one of us ever put pen to paper and wrote that first “keeper,” we were fans of great songs. We still are. For both of us, the discovery of a great song can be as exciting as writing our own. In both cases, we inhabit the song by singing it, falling under its spell, its logic, its mood.

No one understands how this works better than this record’s producer, Larry Campbell, another constant in our careers. He was present at the start of both, and has participated in one way or another ever since (either as a session musician on almost every record either one of has ever made, or as producer of two of Richard’s records and several of Lucy's tracks).

Larry's list of credits is, well, ridiculous. As a sideman (Bob Dylan, Levon Helm, B.B. King, K.D. Lang, Sheryl Crow, Buddy and Julie Miller, Willie Nelson, The Black Crowes, Elvis Costello, Emmylou Harris, Paul Simon, Cyndi Lauper, David Bromberg, Hot Tuna, Phil Lesh and Friends), as a producer (Levon Helm, Ollabelle, David Bromberg, Jorma Kaukonen) and as a songwriter and composer in his own right, Larry has devoted his career to “making that song, propelling that song” (as he said in one interview, referring to his years on stage with Bob Dylan). If anyone on this planet knows how to get to the essence of a song, it is Larry. We are thrilled to have him on board.

THE SONGS

We've chosen a bunch of great songs - some we’ve sung/performed before, some new to both of us, some fairly well-known, and some that are a bit farther off the beaten track (as it were). We’ve never recorded any of them before.

THE BAND AND CREW

Richard plays the main guitar (electric or acoustic) on most tracks, as well as mandola. Larry, as usual, covers the bases on numerous instruments (electric and acoustic guitar, cittern, mandolin, pedal steel, fiddle).

Dennis McDermott plays drums and percussion.

Byron Isaacs plays bass.

Bill Payne (of Little Feat) plays keyboards

Justin Guip is our engineer.

THE STUDIO

We’re recording the bulk of the album at beautiful Applehead Recording in Saugerties, NY (with additional recording at Justin Guip's home studio across the river).

$40,000 will allow us to pay for the basic recording: producer's fees, musicians, studio time, engineering, mixing and mastering, as well as making the Kickstarter video.

With $50,000 we can hire a graphic designer for CDs and posters and pay manufacturing costs, as well as pay for the bare minimum publicity team for radio, social networking, and press.

With $70,000 we can significantly extend the publicity campaign and produce a couple of videos.

With $80,000 we can expand our touring, adding more concerts in more places, and bring more of the musicians who played on the record to your experience.

Radio play and press are very very hard to come by these days, much harder than when we were first starting out. The better we do in this campaign, the better our chances of getting the record out to a wider audience.

In addition to the costs outlined above, and the costs of fulfilling rewards, Kickstarter takes 5%, and Amazon takes another 3 to 5%.

Hopefully, with your generous help, we can bring this one-of-a-kind musical event to a widest possible audience.

Risks and challenges

Aside from some unseen force majeure (illness, acts of God, natural calamities, alien abduction, or the like), we can’t see any reason why we won’t be able to finish the album and send it out to the world before the end of the year. The basic tracks have already been recorded. Now we just need your help to finish the project.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $40 or more
About $40

ALBUM OUTTAKES EP: A CD of outtakes (alternate versions, mixes and/or songs that didn’t make the cut) from the recording sessions. This is not available outside of Kickstarter. Plus the CD and digital copy of the album.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $65 or more
About $65

VINYL + ALBUM OUTTAKES EP: The album on vinyl plus a CD of outtakes (alternate versions, mixes and/or songs that didn’t make the cut) from the recording sessions. This is not available outside of Kickstarter. Plus the CD and digital copy of the album.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $85 or more
About $85

VINYL + ALBUM OUTTAKES EP + PICKS: The album on vinyl plus a CD of outtakes (alternate versions, mixes and/or songs that didn’t make the cut) from the recording sessions. This is not available outside of Kickstarter. Plus the CD and digital copy of the album. And a bag of 25 customized guitar picks!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $90 or more
About $90

VINYL + ALBUM OUTTAKES EP + T-SHIRT: The album on vinyl plus a CD of outtakes (alternate versions, mixes and/or songs that didn’t make the cut) from the recording sessions. This is not available outside of Kickstarter. Plus the CD and digital copy of the album. And a high-quality T-Shirt!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $100 or more
About $100

VINYL AUTOGRAPHED SUPER SUPPORTER PACKAGE #2 (PICKS INSTEAD OF POSTER): autographed copies of the album on high quality vinyl and CD, the outtakes EP, and the bag of guitar picks. Plus a digital copy of the album.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $125 or more
About $125

GUEST LIST FOR TWO PLUS AUTOGRAPHED SUPER SUPPORTER PACKAGE:
You and a friend can attend any Lucy/Richard show, subject to tour schedule. Plus the Autographed Super Supporter Package (signed poster, signed outtakes EP, signed CD and digital copy of the album).

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $125 or more
About $125

VINYL & T-SHIRT AUTOGRAPHED SUPER SUPPORTER PACKAGE: autographed copies of the album on high quality vinyl and CD, the outtakes EP, and the poster. Plus a digital copy of the album. And a high-quality T-Shirt.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $250 or more
About $250

CHAT OVER COFFEE: Have coffee with Richard and Lucy and chat about anything you want.
Location of meeting would need to be arranged to fit into one of our tours. Plus the Autographed Super Supporter Package (signed outtakes EP, signed poster, signed CD, and digital copy of the album).

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $500 or more
About $500

SONGWRITING CONSULTATION: Spend 90 minutes with us talking about songwriting, we’ll critique a song or 2 of yours and talk about how we go about writing songs. Location of meeting would need to be arranged to fit into one of our tours. Plus the Autographed Super Supporter Package (signed outtakes EP, signed poster, signed CD, and digital copy of the album).

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $750 or more
About $750

GUITAR SHOPPING: Spend 2 hours shopping for guitars with Richard (Lucy will tag along), location will need to be coordinated with a tour. Plus the Autographed Super Supporter Package (signed outtakes EP, signed poster, signed CD, and digital copy of the album). Guitar not included.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $1,000 or more
About $1,000

DINNER FOR TWO WITH LUCY AND RICHARD IN NYC: We’ll treat you and a guest to dinner at one of our favorite New York City restaurants.Plus the Autographed Super Supporter Package (signed outtakes EP, signed poster, signed CD, and digital copy of the album). Transportation not included.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $1,500 or more
About $1,500

HARMONY ON YOUR SONG: You send us a song you’ve recorded and we’ll sing harmony and send it back to you, subject to our schedules. Plus the Autographed Super Supporter Package (signed outtakes EP, signed poster, signed CD, and digital copy of the album).

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $3,000 or more
About $3,000

HOME RECORDING OF COVER SONG: You pick a song you've always wanted to hear us sing, and we’ll record it for you as demo-quality home recording as a duet. Then you will receive all of the songs that were requested in this reward category on one CD. This CD would only be for your private use and songs must be limited to the English language. Plus the Autographed Super Supporter Package (signed outtakes EP, signed poster, signed CD, and digital copy of the album).

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $6,500 or more
About $6,500

HOUSE CONCERT: Lucy and Richard will come to your house at a mutually arranged time and play a show for whoever you want to invite. You're free to charge admission to help offset costs. If the house concert cannot be scheduled into an existing tour, any associated airfare will need to be added to the cost. Limited to the continental USA. Plus the Autographed Super Supporter Package (signed outtakes EP, signed poster, signed CD, and digital copy of the album).

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $10,000
About $10,000

EVERYTHING: House concert as described above plus all of the above rewards (home recording of cover song, harmony on your song, dinner for two in NYC, songwriting consult, chat over coffee, guitar shopping, guest list for two, signed outtakes EP, signed poster, signed CD, signed vinyl, guitar picks and digital copy of the album.)